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Response to loss of a family member
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she always laughs...
Suicide makes me think of my grandmother and uncle whom I never met. Each took their lives before I was born. I spoke with my mother about Grandma Ruth yesterday evening. She delights in telling me how much Grandma Ruth would have loved me.
We didn't talk about her often. She died when my mother was a junior in high school. My mother always refered to her as "my mother", so it wasn't until I was a teen that I came up with a name for her. My grandfathers are called by their last names: Grandpa P. and Grandpa R. My other grandmother was called Amah and her husband was Poppa. One day I had a question about my mother's mother and I refered to her as Grandma Ruth. That has been what we have called her ever since.
Apparently, on the day she died, she woke up in the morning and gave her husband a dollar, instructing him to send their oldest child to college. Then she took the bus to the bridge where she jumped. My grandfather saved that dollar all these years, but has lost it in the past decade.
We have four possessions which formerly belonged to Grandma Ruth. She was schizophrenic and spent half of every year in a mental hospital; we have a sock doll she made in the institution. We have a wonderful pair of green sunglasses she wore; both of the nose pieces are broken off. My grandfather had her wedding ring made into a necklace, which he gave to my mother a few years ago. The fourth item is a large gold cross. The voice my grandmother heard in her head was the voice of god. It was no doubt the voice that told her that she needed to leave this planet.
Grandma Ruth and I would have gotten along so well. I would have curled up on a chair in the kitchen while she baked cookies. We would have laughed and gossiped and she would have put flowers in my hair. I would have squaled with a giddy happiness every time she began a story with, "When your mother was little..."
I don't know many stories about when my mother was little. She has forgotten most everything, and even now her memory is terrible.
Edward Kennedy Ellington was one of the most famous jazz composers and performers of the 20th century. Duke ellington went down as one of the most significant composers in jazz history, who led his own music group for about 50 years. Now how did duke get to be one of the best in history?
Months later, I woke up and walked down stairs to make my oats. I walked downstairs and was looking for my Father. I looked everywhere in the house before I noticed he was no-where to be found. Then I walked into the living room and saw my Mother. She was hysterical. Tears were running down her cheek like the Mississippi flowed into the Gulf of Mexico.
The New Negro Movement, widely known as The Harlem Renaissance, rolled into Harlem, New York – and touched the whole of America – like a gale-force wind. As every part of America reveled in the prosperity and gaiety of the decade, African Americans used the decade as a stepping stone for future generations. With the New Negro Movement came an abundance of black artistic, cultural, and intellectual stimulation. Literary achievers like Langston Hughes, Zora Neal Hurston, Claude McKay, and Countee Cullen rocked the world with their immense talent and strove to show that African Americans should be respected. Musicians, dancers, and singers like Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Josephine Baker and Bessie Smith preformed for whites and blacks alike in famed speakeasies like The Cotton Club. Intellectuals like Marcus Garvey, W.E.B. DuBois, and Alain Locke stood to empower and unify colored people of all ages. The Harlem Renaissance was not just a moment in time; it was a movement of empowerment for African Americans across the nation, and remains as such today.
One day my grandfather was sent into an office for some business reasons and randomly met my grandmother, Theresa. He described Theresa as a tall, skinny woman with dark, brown hair that wore perfume that smell...
received the chance to succeed at the Cotton Club. The results of Ellington’s achievements at the Cotton Club were extensive, leading him to success and to national
Suicide is the eleventh most common cause of death in the United States. According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, a person takes their own life once every fourteen minutes in the United States (American Foundation for Suicide Prevention [AFSP], 2011). Still, with suicide rates so high, suicide is a taboo topic in our society. Though suicide is intended to end one person’s pain, it causes an immeasurable amount of pain and suffering to loved ones close to the deceased.
Individuality blossomed during the 1920s and jazz was the perfect way to express individualism. Jazz was the “peoples” music, it was for the soul. Nightclubs were the perfect way to embrace jazz music. The Harlem Renaissance was largely defined by the clubs and characters who constantly made jazz music better and better. Duke Ellington and Jelly Roll Morton were the top men in jazz music. Many people would go out to nightclubs every night to hear them and others play. Harlem Renaissance music was more than music for most people, it was a way of
Thankfully I have never lost anyone to suicide, but that does not mean this subject should not be important to me. Since my friends and many people I love along with myself fall between the ages of teenage suicide, it could happen to anyone at anytime and would have a huge impac...
She was the one who showed me all of the nice things you could see if you looked at things a certain way, she taught me how to laugh and how to be a kind and understanding person and when I was younger I thought she was the best that she could do no wrong but everyone does make mistakes and she also showed me that it was okay to make them and by making mistakes you learn what not to do next time.
Suicide is like a natural disaster; an earthquake, a tornado, a hurricane, a meteorite. Abrupt, jolting, devastating the lives of all those it impacts. It’s a life changing catastrophic crevice that rips apart the lives of the survivors who are left behind to navigate the grief left behind by the loss of their loved one. These loved ones spend years working through the reverberations; the anger, the guilt, confusion and regret. They search and search for the answer to the endless questions…. Why? What if? If only… I know this. I’ve been there.
example of a possible trigger for suicide is a real or imagined loss, like the
My aunt had been an important person in my life since I was born. She helped me a lot through rough times and always was there if I needed anything. I could always remember the big family parties we had and she would give me money for a present. She was always nice to me and was a big part in my success at anything I was doing. I even used to call her 2nd mom sometimes.
In my life time, I have experienced many deaths. I have never had anyone that was very close to me die, but I have shed tears over many deaths that I knew traumatically impacted the people that I love. The first death that influenced me was the death of my grandfather. My grandfather passed away when I was very young, so I never really got the chance to know him. My papaw Tom was my mothers dad, and she was very upset after his passing. Seeing my mom get upset caused me to be sad. The second death that influenced my life was the death of my great grandmother. My great grandmother was a very healthy women her whole life. When she was ninety three she had
grandmother coming home from work. Soon my real mom came by to “have a serious
From that night on, my mom and I became so close. I knew that I was able to talk to her about anything, and every once in awhile she would check up